Sunday, week 5.
Happy Easter everybody! Or Ramadan, or anything that you connect to this day. Maybe just happy lazy Sunday, haha!

My family is not the religious type, yet we do find some comfort in family moments during this holiday. For today, we had a nice Easter brunch with croissants and strawberries (following our own tradition) and ordered pancakes for dinner. Maybe the “lazy Sunday” remark is more applicable to my situation than I would like to admit…

Other than these moments, this Sunday was just like any other to me. I still worked on my project, and still worked for clients. The only difference is that I did not do any customer/client contact work today. It was for self-study and content creation.

I have also started reading a new book. One that one of my friends actually gave me. Thinking, fast and slow, by Daniel Kahneman. (hey Sebas, yeah, I started reading your book, haha!)

I did not know what to expect by reading the cover of this book, which is honestly the best way to start in my experience. But so far, it seems very interesting. Just to give a tiny bit of insight: the fast and slow in thinking that the book refers to is your “automatic” brain reactions, and the “thought-out” slow responses. We tend to have a certain stereotype or prejudice calculated into our brain based on our own experiences, yet this “automatic” way of thinking is not always correct when you truly start thinking about the topic at hand. This book is based around the idea that you can become more aware of your own prejudice and teach your “slow” thinking to jump in at the proper moment to prevent unfair prejudice that can cloud your judgement or even ruin a great opportunity.

I am very curious to see what this book can teach me, as I discovered in the first pages that I already check myself probably a lot more than the average human does. The “tests” that the book provides at the start were either tricks I was already familiar with, or I already took a slow-thinking response approach to the questions at hand because I have taught myself to be very weary of prejudice, especially in stereotypes.

However, I too know that there is always room to grow, and I am in no way an expert of my own mind. There is definitely value and potential for me in improving the productivity of my thinking, maybe more in making it less tiresome for me instead of faster (or slower).

Other than this new book start, this week has been a bit slower than I would have liked. This week was very insightful and helpful in understanding my own mind and body better, yet not as productive on a study/project related course. This might also be related to the amount of expectations that seem to slowly creep into my life again.

Especially with Easter, the family loves to do things together and go out. Normally, a very fun experience and a way to get out of the house for a moment. However, for the slowly healing brain of mine, it is quite the challenge and definitely an exhausting thought. Tomorrow, on the second day of Easter, my family has planned to go to Eindhoven. A city 1,5 hours drive away, where my brother studies.

The plan is to drive to Eindhoven, go out for lunch, go shopping, go out for dinner, and then drive the 1,5 hours back.
Considering my biggest achievement so far has been a 1 hour outing to request my passport, this full day of social interaction is quite the commitment and something I do not know if I am ready for. Especially the starting ánd ending with a social meal is quite the hurdle for me at the moment.

For tonight, I will prepare whatever I can and just see tomorrow how things will go.